Lakers Spurred, but Not Shaken

NBC analyst Doug Collins, commenting on the Lakers and San Antonio Spurs before the start of the NBA Western Conference finals:

“I don’t think San Antonio can win this series if they allow Kobe and Shaq to average 60 points, which is exactly what they did in Sacramento. . . .

“I think the first game is so important for San Antonio because right now the Lakers feel almost invincible.

“They’ve won 15 in a row and really haven’t been challenged--they haven’t been threatened from the standpoint of ‘if we lose this game anything can happen.’ ”

Bryant, with 45 points, and O’Neal, with 28, combined for 73 points in the victory in Game 1, which doesn’t diminish any notion of invincibility.

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Trivia time: Who holds the record for most grand slams hit in one season?

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Just be grateful: Wide receiver-defensive back Jim Dooley was the Chicago Bears’ top draft choice in 1952, but it wasn’t a big deal then. “I read it in the paper the next day,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “They didn’t even call me up.

“I called [club owner George Halas] and told him I appreciated him drafting me and maybe I could come up and we could talk about a signing bonus. He said, ‘Kid, your bonus is being selected by the Chicago Bears.’ ”

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Copping out: In an effort to keep his job, Pittsburgh Pirate General Manager Cam Bonifay pointed a finger at Manager Lloyd McClendon and the team’s coaches and players as being responsible for the team having the National League’s worst record:

“I don’t play, I don’t manage, I don’t coach. I can’t get the runner home from scoring position. I can’t make the key pitch when it needs to be made. I can’t move the runner over when he needs to be moved over.”

What does he do, then?

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Writer’s cramp: Bud Geracie in the San Jose Mercury News: “Proving there are two sides to everything, Doug Mientkiewicz is leading the Twins with a .389 batting average but is having to sign that name on a lot more baseballs.”

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Ouch! FoxSports.com’s Randy Hill on Jerry Rice getting a degree recently from Mississippi Valley State: “He probably qualified as a valedictorian in secondary education.”

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Ouch II! Hill again, on a New York Times report that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays might not have enough money to meet payroll demands: “In a collect call to FoxSports.com, a Devil Ray spokesperson said the report was completely inaccurate.”

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Consistent: Third baseman Scott Rolen of the Philadelphia Phillies “maintains the most even keel of any player in baseball,” says Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News. “When he is going good, he appears to be miserable. And when he’s going bad, he appears to be miserable.”

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Trivia answer: Don Mattingly, who hit six for the Yankees in 1987.

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And finally: Kirby Puckett, who will enter the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, was honored at a luncheon recently in St. Paul, Minn. He said of former Twin teammate Bert Blyleven:

“I want to thank Bert for giving up all those 400-foot fly balls so I could go way back and make those catches that helped get me elected.”